Suet Dough

I love providing suet for the wild birds.  It attracts fun characters like woodpeckers, nuthatches and titmice.  Their acrobatics are amazing.  Commercial suet cakes are neat and easy and usually quite affordable.  When I decided to make my own suet logs I didn't have a spade bit big enough for the suet plugs sold in stores.  Rather than buy one more spade bit that would sit in my tool box I decided to fill the logs with chopped up suet.  That proved to be a bit messy but workable.  Then I found a recipe for suet dough.  Since it's already loose, it is much easier to use to fill logs.  It can also be stuffed into large pine cones for a fun and attractive feeder option.  The recipe I use came from an article online at Bird Watchers Digest.  It is quick and easy, and lends itself to variation.  I didn't use the chick starter, instead substituting various seeds and meals.  At room temperature it is very workable, but quickly hardens when cold. Suet Dough recipe at Bird Watchers Digest.